How I Afford My Princess Dresses

It's a question I get asked a lot and sometimes not very nicely: How do you afford your pretty dresses?  The assumption is typically that I have an endless amount of disposable income, which I certainly do not.  What I do have is a strategy that I'd like to share with you today.

 

When I take a cursory glance at the possessions of the people asking me about my clothes, what I notice is that their lives are crammed with the latest tech gadgets, new cars, new homes, expensive vacations, etc. and mine isn't.  They're spending their spare income on these things and I'm spending mine on pretty dresses.  When I suggest that they cut back in one of these areas in order to afford a nice dress or two, they seem surprised that that's an option.  But, it is, and here are a few more.

1. Shop the BST's & Resale Sites  If your dream dress is just too far out of your budget, you can wait a bit and then start searching the Buy Sell Trade groups for that designer or search the resale sites to see if one turns up for a less than retail.  The down side to this is that you might not get your size and having it altered will up the cost.  Or, worst case scenario, it never gets listed for sale and you don't get the dress.  This method is a gamble, but some people love the challenge and the thrill of the hunt.

2.  Wait For the Sales.  Every year most shops will have a big sale in the spring and again in the fall, usually for Black Friday.  In my experience, the Black Friday sales are the best.  In 2021, Teuta Matoshi was doing 30% off all dresses and Selkie had a whopping 40% off their dresses.  The springtime sale is pretty comparable and can mean the difference between a dream dress and a dream-come-true-dress.  The downside here is that sometimes when you wait, your dress or maybe just your size will sell out and it's back to the resale sites to wait and hope.

3.  Save Up.  This is the top thing that I do when it comes to my dresses.  The ways to save up are to set aside a little bit each month or from each paycheck, just what you can afford, don't put yourself in a bind to do this.  I like to grab extra shifts at work when I can when people take a sick day or go on vacation.  For this to work, you really need to focus-up and cut out all impulse spending.  It's the slow and steady method of a little bit here and there, but over time it can make a big difference.  Then, when a sale comes or whenever you see your dream dress, you'll already be in a position to afford it.

Through these methods, I've managed to fill my closet with many dreamy princess dresses and no one in my family had to go without food or electricity and I didn't have to go into debt.  If you're not much of a reader, you can always check out my youtube video where I give you this basic run-down on my princess dress buying strategies.

Shopping Info:  Head in the Clouds Ritz Dress from SelkieCollection.com-$325